1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a modular storage system, and more particularly to a wall or ceiling mounted system for mounting storage boxes on a rail system.
2. Description of Related Art
It is an axiom of modern life that storage needs expand to equal and exceed the amount of storage space available. In the office and in the home, various systems have been developed over the years to store materials. Filing cabinets are utilized for papers which need to be frequently accessed, and storage drawers are similarly used. Store rooms, garages, file rooms and document rooms are also equipped with shelves on which cardboard boxes are placed, with stored material inside the cardboard boxes. When the shelves are full, or until they are built, a common method of storage is to put materials to be stored in cardboard boxes, and stack the cardboard boxes in stacks. This has the advantage of being cheap and easy to do, but has the disadvantage that you may have to unstack the entire stack of boxes to find objects which are located in the bottom box. If you don't have a record of what is in each box, you may have to open each box searching for the material to be retrieved from storage.
Bookshelves also have the disadvantage that whether they are filled with boxes or totally empty, the bookshelves occupy an entire area, such as a wall, and essentially prevents that wall from being used for anything else.
What is needed is a storage system which mounts easily to an unused space, such as a wall or a ceiling, but when not in use allows that space to be utilized for other purposes. What is also needed is a storage system which is modular, so that storage boxes may be opened and inspected without having to unstack a vertical stack of boxes. Such a modular system also has to be adjustable, to account for various sizes of boxes. What is also needed is a way to determine the contents of a particular box without having to open the lid of that box or unstack a stack of boxes. It would also be desirable to be able to view the contents of a box or open a particular storage box by accessing the side of a box facing the user, rather than having to open the flaps on the top or removing a lid from the top of the box.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a storage system which mounts to an unused space, such as a wall or a ceiling. It is also an object of this invention that the storage system be modular and provide storage boxes which are not stacked upon each other, but may be individually viewed and opened to remove stored contents. It is a further object of the invention to provide a modular storage system which is adjustable, so that boxes of various sizes may be utilized and when not necessary, storage boxes may be removed from the system. It is a further object of the invention to provide a modular storage box which allows the contents of a particular box to be viewed, and for the box to be opened and the contents removed or added to without having to unstack other boxes.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description as follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.